When American Idol 2014 finalist Jena Irene Ascuitto won the ‘coin toss’ to decide who would sing when in the finale, many fans were astonished when she chose to sing first. Usually, the singers in the American Idol finale want to go second so they end up closing out the show and being the last person in the voter’s heads.
Well, it turns out that Jena actually got confused by the coin toss and gave up the ‘pimp spot’ at the end of the finale to Caleb by accident. Whoops! In a post-finale press interview, Jena Irene explained how the mix-up happened and why it really doesn’t matter anyway.
“To be completely honest with you, I thought that coin toss — I wasn’t really listening when the publicists were talking to me, because I was thinking about several different things at the same time,” Jena said. “I thought it was just for going first for the performance for the Emmy Award. We did perform after the Top 2 were announced that night, just for Emmys. I went first for that. I thought it was for that.”
“Later on in the week I figured out I was opening the show for the finale,” Jena said. “I wasn’t hurt about it, just because to open the show and to start strong — it didn’t matter to me. There’s two people left — I don’t think it hurt my chances.”
“I think people were going to vote who they were going to vote for regardless of how me and Caleb did throughout the competition,” Jena concluded. “He has his fans and I have my fans and I’m so grateful I got to this point.”